Two items of interest. First, Roy E. Disney and Don Hahn will screen some rarely seen Disney animated shorts and experimental films on April 30th at the 2008 Newport Beach Film Festival. The collection of short animated films had limited theatrical releases and many are not available on DVD. Among the films to be presented include How to Hook-Up Your Home Theater (2007) starring Goofy, and the Oscar-nominated films The Little Match Girl (2006), Lorenzo (2005), Destino (2003, a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali more than 50 years in the making), and Redux Riding Hood (1998), plus the experimental film Oilspot & Lipstick (1987, Disney's first foray into computer animation), among others.
Second, there's sad news in the animation world: the last of Walt Disney's original team of animators, known as the Nine Old Men, has died at the age 95. Ollie Johnston worked for Disney for 43 years, drawing characters for animated Mickey Mouse short films before contributing to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and The Jungle Book. Screen the documentary about Ollie and partner Frank Thomas, Frank and Ollie. Their friendship changed the animation industry.
As a journalist, years ago, I had the honor of interviewing Frank & Ollie at Ollie’s home; he and Frank lived a hill away from each other in La Canada. Two warmer, wittier, more giving people I cannot imagine, and it’s clear that the humanity and perceptiveness in the classic Disney animated films came from the hearts and pencils of gifted artists like them. When we conducted the interview in the living room, I insisted on kneeling on the floor. I told them it was to work the tape recorder better but, in truth, it was so I could sit at the feet of giants. My condolences to Ollie’s family — and also to the art of animation.
Comment by Nat Segaloff — April 16, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
This is kind of a trivial comment, but the Goofy “how to hook up your home theatre” short is as bad as bad can be: no wit, no purpose and seemingly longer than Birth of a Nation. It was an opener for National Treasure: Book of Secrets at Arclight last year. Even my teen daughters who loved Goofy as kids thought this was a worse waste of time then, well, National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I would have figured that Roy Disney would have been pissed at this contemporary-era insult to Walt and his team’s memory.
Comment by penp — April 17, 2008 @ 2:08 am
Couldn’t agree more about the Goofy short. Totally awful, uninspired and way too long. However, Destino is really fantastic and beautiful. It was showing at the Dali exhibit at LACMA.
Comment by ckn8 — April 17, 2008 @ 12:58 pm